Look into low income housing tax credits: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/lihtc.html

I'm always learning about REI because the more knowledge I have under my belt, the better I can negotiate deals, accurately calculate repair costs and etc.

I simply bid low and negotiated up based on rental history of the house.

I'm pretty familiar with car washes in the So Cal area, 5.5 (including land) is a bit on the high side here.  1.8 on the other hand (including land) is unbelievably low. 

In this case I would say that for maintenance, you would be best off paying per trip/hourly for the cost of any repairs at whatever is an average median rate for a repair man in your area.

@Sarah Meade you definitely don't need to have a business to buy a small multiunit, especially if you plan to use a low-down payment loan.

So if it is 10 years (making up a number) and the unit was 2 years old and a new unit costs $5000, you bill them for 80% of the cost-$4000. 

This leaves us with a little over $1000/month for our housing costs split between my wife and I. 

There are also additional costs of operating and maintaining an LLC, like separate bank accounts, annual report filings, tax filings, etc.2.

So you will have to consider all these things and their costs, along with any other renovations you will need to make for your potential property, and the prices that go with those as well.